Hypercompetitiveness is about needing to win at all costs to protect our identity and worth. It’s linked to more physical and verbal aggression, and difficulty maintaining healthy relationships. In their book Top Dog, Ashley Merryman and Po Bronson describe this maladaptive competitiveness as “characterized by psychological insecurity and displaced urges. It’s the person who can’t accept that losing is part of competing. . . . He has to be the best at everything, and he can’t stop comparing himself to others even when the competition is over.”
